Dream Squares

jens Crandall House, Home Swede Home, Recipes butter, cake, drömtårta, eggs, fluor 0 Comments

Drömtårta, or Dream Cake is a real classic at the Swedish coffee table. Did you know that traditionally, Fika, the Swedish word for coffee with dip, includes seven different kinds of cookies? More about that in another post. Drömtårta is often made sure to make an appearance as one of the seven. This was one of my favourites growing up. Traditionally it is served in a rolled-up version, just like the Budapest Roll in an earlier post, then cut into 1″ pieces. Today I decided to turn it into bite size squares for a change. A very decadent, hint of vanilla filling, wrapped in a fluffy subtle chocolate cake. It is as good with a glass of milk as with a nice hot cup of java. Your choice. This recipe calls for all purpose flour but feel free to substitute it with potato flour for a gluten-free version. It works just as well.

Cake:

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp cacao

1 tsp baking powder

Filling:

100g butter, room temperature

2/3 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

Preheat oven to 480F.

With a blender, whisk eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift flour, cacao and baking powder into a bowl then slowly, while whisking on medium-low speed add to the egg mixture. Blend well but make sure not to over beat the batter.

Line a 11″x17″ baking sheet with parchment paper then pour batter.

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 5 min, or until cake is set.

On a rack, place another sheet of parchment paper, sprinkle with sugar and flip the cake on top of the sugared paper. Carefully peel off the parchment paper from the cake. Let cool.

Meanwhile, whisk together the ingredients for the filling. Spread evenly over the cooled cake. Cut the cake in half, crosswise, then flip on side over the other – filling agains filling. Cut into bite size squares. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

Budapest Roll

jens Crandall House, Home Swede Home, Recipes cake, cream, eggs, meringue 0 Comments

I was quite spoiled growing up. Having a stay at home mom who baked and cooked everything from scratch had its perks. I’m sure I wasn’t always appreciative about it though. I mean, why couldn’t we have tasteless store bought loaves of bread like most of my friends? I do now, however, look back at it all with very fond memories and a lot of gratitude. Breads, cookies, cakes and jams as well as all kinds of food. One of my all time favourites and a real treat was “Budapestrulle”. A melt-in-your-mouth meringue and hazelnut roll with whipped cream and mandarins. Originally created by Swedish pastry chef Ingvar Strid in the 1950’s. It has, surprisingly, no resemblance to Hungary’s capital Budapest. It is quite easy to make although you might need to take a deep breath before rolling it up. I guarantee you will love it. In this recipe I have substituted the hazelnuts with almonds which works just as well.

6 egg whites

1 1/3 cup sugar

150g ground almonds

1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 cup whipping cream

2 cans mandarin oranges

Dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Slowly add the sugar while beating the egg whites on low speed. With the use of a spatula, carefully fold in the ground almonds and vanilla with the egg whites. Spread evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 min, or until set. You can check by poking it with a toothpick. If it comes out dry, it’s ready. Move meringue and parchment paper to a drying rack and let cool completely. While meringue is cooling, drain the mandarin slices. They need to be fairly dry before being put on the cake.

Flip the cake upside down onto a new sheet of parchment paper. Carefully peel off the parchment paper (brush it with warm water if it doesn’t loosen). Spread the whipped cream over the bottom of the cake. Place the mandarin slices evenly on top of the cream.

Now comes the tricky part. The rolling. Don’t panic if it cracks or start to break. Place the long side of the cake in front of you and start rolling it. Don’t press too hard (you’ll end with an empty roll of meringue and a pile of whipped cream and mandarines in front of it if you do.) I find using the parchment paper helps the rolling ones you get started (hold on to the paper rather then the cake). Remember not to press too hard. Once rolled up make sure the edge of the roll is facing down.

Melt the chocolate and drizzle on top. A dusting of icing sugar is pretty as well. Cut diagonally in a zig-zag pattern so that you end up with triangular pieces.